Tag Archives: theology

Reflections on a Homosexual Bible Study (Part II)

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Read Part I of "Reflections on a Homosexual Bible Study".

In the next four chapter sessions, same-sex conduct was defended. Almost every well-known section of the Bible that dealt with it was analyzed to divert attention from its homosexual aspects toward something else. Only after attempting to strip down inferred homosexual aspects of each Bible passage was the most obvious disapproving Bible passage of same-sex conduct introduced from Leviticus.

"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination." (Leviticus 18:22)

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St. Anne’s Novena

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Remember today is a great day to begin a St. Anne’s Novena. While this novena to the mother of the Blessed Virgin and Holy God-bearer may be said at any time, starting today will allow you to finish on the feast of St. Anne. Many parishes hold public novena’s during this time, so check the local churches, especially if one of them is named St. Anne’s.

EWTN’s website has the most common novena to St. Anne.

There is also the chaplet of St. Anne, which dates back to the 1800’s, to be found here.

And for those Oratoriophiles out there, a prayer translated by Ambrose St. Jean (pronounced "sinjin"), CO of the Birmingham Oratory.

The feast of St. Anne is quite old. It is celebrated as the "Dormition of St. Anne" in the East on the 25th, and the feast of St. Anne in the West is celebrated on the 26th (in the calendar of the Novus Ordo Missae the feast of St. Joaquin, the BVM’s father, is moved to this day, as well).

It is often observed that Grandmothers play a very important role in the return of many young Catholics to the Church during the last two decades. As this generation now grows older, it is an important time to pray to the grandmother of Christ for these grandparents, whose witness is still needed in the Church today. Few saints have shown the effectiveness that St. Anne has shown with countless miracles, no doubt due to the love Christ has for His own grandmother. We all have needs which St. Anne, who loves us as only grandmothers do, desires to present to her Divine grandson. So, join us in this novena, praying for your own needs as well as for the intentions of this blog and the Pittsburgh Newman Clubs.

Reflections on a Homosexual Bible Study (Part I)

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Inspired by Funky’s recent exchange with Amba, I’ve decided to share my opinions regarding Christian acceptance of gays.

At the University of Pittsburgh (aka Pitt), in the fall semester of 1999, I attended a bible study series sponsored by the Pitt Rainbow Alliance and lead by Dr. Michael Penn-Strah, a protestant minister from Pittsburgh’s Northside. They used the study book Claiming the Promise by Mary Jo Osterman. I would like to share some reflections of that Bible study that stuck in my mind along with some other intermingled comments. (As a matter of disclosure, I am a Catholic Christian who before and after the Bible study believed that a homosexual tendency is not a sin but that engaging in homosexual sex, even in same-sex “marriage”, is sinful.)

I attended the study for personal as well as “professional” reasons. I was an opinions writer for The Pitt News. There was another writer, Michael Mazza, who always wrote pro-gay columns. I thought that I should balance out his columns with at least one from the other side.

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An Exchange on Gay Christians (Part IV)

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Read Part I of "An Exchange on Gay Christians"
Read Annie’s response to Part I.
Read Part II of "An Exchange on Gay Christians"
Read Annie’s response to Part II.
Read Part III of "An Exchange on Gay Christians"
Read Annie's response to Part III.

Well, either you've been lucky or careful!

I'd say it's sort of both. I don't know of any homosexuals in my family, so that's the "lucky" part. The types of folks I generally make friends with share my religious convictions, so odds are that even if any them have homosexual tendencies (and I strongly suspect a couple do), they would never act on them.

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An Exchange on Gay Christians (Part III)

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Read Part I of "An Exchange on Gay Christians"
Read Annie's response to Part I.
Read Part II of "An Exchange on Gay Christians"
Read Annie's response to Part II.

Replace "homosexual" with "pedophile"

Why?? Homosexuals are consenting and sometimes loving adults. Pedophiles are predators in a relation that cannot be consensual.

In my view, homosexuality and pedophilia are both psychological disorders of unknown pathologies. The difference between the objects of disordered affections is mostly accidental (in the philosophical sense). Obviously, pedophilia is a much more serious problem because children cannot consent to sex with an adult. Look at it from the sufferer's standpoint, though. If the neurological manifestations and/or causes of pedophilia and homosexuality are similar (an empirically testable hypothesis), shouldn't they be treated similarly? Pedophiles and other sexual deviants are subject to arrest and conviction, but homosexuals are increasingly treated as just another expression of human diversity. I think there's a fundamental failure in logic in that disparity. I'm not advocating decriminalizing child abuse or criminalizing active homosexuality. However, I do not believe that we can just wave our hands and declare that homosexuality is "normal" simply because those affected by it can reciprocate each other's desires.

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